A topic related to Socio-linguistics is well explained here.

1. BILINGUALISM/ MULTILINGUALISM
AND
DIGLOSSIA

2. BI/MULTILINGUALISM
 Definition
 Bilingualism or Multilingualism is the phenomenon of speaking and understanding two or more
languages.
 Bilingualism (or more generally (Multilingualism) is the phenomenon of speaking and understanding two or
more languages. The term can refer to individuals (individual bilingualism) as well as to an entire society (social
bilingualism).
 Levels
 Bilingualism at the level of the individual
 Bilingualism at the level of province/country
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3.  Countries declare themselves to be officially monolingual/bilingual/multilingual
 Canada and Belgium (bilingual)
 Switzerland (multilingual)
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4. EXAMPLES OF BILINGUALISM
 Other countries, though not officially bilingual (or multilingual), have two (or more) different
languages spoken within their borders. Most countries of the world fall into this latter category.
 In most countries, whether they are officially bilingual (or multilingual) or not, there are whole
communities that are bilingual (or multilingual) in the sense that their members commonly use two
(or more) languages in their daily lives.
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5. PERFECT BILINGUALISM
 “Perfect bilingualism is defined as the full range of competence in both languages that a native
mono-lingual speaker has in one.”
 Perfect bilingualism, if it exists at all, is extremely rare, because it is rare for individuals to be in a
position to use each language in a full range of situations and thus to acquire the requisite
competence. However, it is not uncommon for people to approximate to perfect bilingualism by
being equally competent in both languages over a fairly wide range of situations.
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6. TYPES OF BILINGUAL SPEAKERS
Compound and Co-ordinate bilinguals:
1. If they have acquired both languages simultaneously in childhood, they are compound bilinguals.
2. If they have acquired one as their first language and the other somewhat later, they are co-ordinate bilinguals.
In this case, one language will be dominant and the other subordinate; and it has been suggested that the use of
the sub-ordinate language involves a process of translation from the dominant language.
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7. INFORMAL AND FORMAL DOMAIN
For example,
 one language might be the language of the home, in the sense that it would always be used in
talking informally with other members of the family at home about domestic matters. It is called
informal domain.
Another language might be used outside the home, or inside the home when strangers are present or
when the topic of conversation is other than domestic. This notion of the domain is intuitively
attractive. This type of domain is also called formal domain.
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8. ADDITIVE, RECEPTIVE AND SUBTRACTIVE
BILINGUALISM
DIFFERENT SITUATIONS OF BILINGUALISM
 Bilingualism could be: Additive, Receptive and Subtractive
 Additive bilingualism:
 “ A situation where a second language is learnt by an individual or a group without detracting from the
development of the first language.”
 Receptive bilingualism: “A situation in which one can understand but cannot speak a language.”
 Subtractive bilingualism:
“A situation where a second language is learnt by an individual or a group on the risk of loosing the first
language.”
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9. FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENTIATION OF LANGUAGES
 Languages are chosen depending on:
 Domain (home, class, etc.)
 Participants
 Topic
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10. DIGLOSSIA
 “ The use of two varieties of the same language in different social contexts through a speech community.”
 A key defining characteristic of diglossia is that the two varieties are kept quite apart functionally. One is used
in set of circumstances and the other in an entirely different set. ( Ronald Wardhaugh)
 A rather special situation involving two distinct varieties of a language, called Diglossia, exists in some
countries. In diglossia, there is “low” variety, acquired locally and used for everyday affairs, and a “high” or
special variety learned in school and used for important matters.
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11. DIGLOSSIA
 A type of diglossia exists in Arabic speaking countries where the high variety (Classical Arabic) is used in formal
lectures, serious political events and especially in religious discussions. The low variety is the local version of
the language, such as Egyptian Arabic or Lebanese Arabic.
 Through a long period in European history, diglossic situation existed with Latin as the high variety and one of
the local language of Europe (early version of modern Italian, French and Spanish) as the low variety or
“vernacular”
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12. DIGLOSSIA
 High variety dominates certain domains: Formal Use e.g. literacy, religion, public speaking, ‘high’ usages
 Low variety dominates in ‘lower’ domains: informal use e.g. jokes, intimacy, street use, use in home
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13. DIGLOSSIA
 An Introduction to Language, Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman
 Sociolinguistics, R.A. Hudson
 Language and Linguistics, John Lyons
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